Countdown to the Series: A brief history of Series MVPs

DID YOU KNOW ... An MVP has been named at the conclusion of each NAIA World Series. Only one player has been named MVP twice: Pete Bethea, a catcher for Grand Canyon. Bethea led the Antelopes to the 1981 and '82 titles. He has the highest career batting average in the Series, hitting .511 in 11 games.

Usually the MVP is on the championship team, but eight times in the tournament's 59-year history, a player has won the award without his team winning the title. The last player to be named MVP on a non-championship team was Chris Bradshaw, an outfielder for Oklahoma City, which finished third in 1998. Three times the award has gone to a player from the runner-up club, including Mike Meggers of Mary Hardin-Baylor. In fact, of the 17 championships won by Lewis-Clark State, Meggers is the only non-Warrior to be named MVP.

Eight World Series MVPs have gone on to play in the major leagues. One of them, Roger Repoz, played first base and pitched for Western Washington in 1959. The Vikings finished fourth, going 2-2, with Repoz winning both games. Former major league catcher Mickey Owen, scouting for the Chicago Cubs, was impressed by two players he saw in that tournament, Repoz and Lou Brock. "I wanted to sign both of them but (the Cubs) told me to recommend and sign one," Owen told an author in an interview. "So we went with Brock, whose team (Southern University) won the championship." Repoz drew attention from scouts again in 1960 and he was signed by Yankees scout Eddie Taylor after the Vikings' season ended. Repoz, who was converted to the outfield, was called up to the big leagues in 1964, to replace an injured Roger Maris, and played in the outfield with Mickey Mantle for two years before being traded to Kansas City Athletics.

The last Series MVP to debut in the major leagues was Connor Robertson. Robertson led Birmingham-Southern to the championship in Lewiston in 2001. The third baseman had 14 hits in six games, batting an even .500. Robertson made his major league debut as a pitcher with the Oakland A's in 2007, and went on to pitch just nine career innings with Oakland and Arizona. His brother, Dave, is currently the closer for the first-place Chicago White Sox.

And DID YOU KNOW, the Avista NAIA World Series is just four days away.